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“Go!” is the tenth studio album by jazz musician Dexter Gordon featuring Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins, recorded on August 27, 1962 and released in the same year on Blue Note. According to the liner notes by Ira Gitler, this session was “not recorded in a nightclub performance but, in its informal symmetry, it matches the relaxed atmosphere that the best of those made in that manner engender. Everyone was really together, in all the most positive meanings of that word.” It was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs. Since its release, Go! has received very positive reviews from critics, with AllMusic giving it a five star rating. The album was re-released in March 1999 as part of Blue Note’s RVG Series, produced by Michael Cuscuna.

AllMusic Review by Stacia Proefrock
From the first moments when Dexter Gordon sails into the opening song full of brightness and confidence, it is obvious that Go is going to be one of those albums where everything just seems to come together magically. A stellar quartet including the stylish pianist Sonny Clark, the agile drummer Billy Higgins, and the solid yet flexible bassist Butch Warren are absolutely crucial in making this album work, but it is still Gordon who shines. Whether he is dropping quotes into “Three O’Clock in the Morning” or running around with spritely bop phrases in “Cheese Cake,” the album pops and crackles with energy and exuberance. Beautiful ballads like “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” metamorphosize that energy into emotion and passion, but you can still see it there nonetheless. Gordon had many high points in his five decade-long career, but this is certainly the peak of it all.

Track listing:

01. Cheese Cake – 00:00
02. I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry – 06:33
03. Second Balcony Jump – 11:56
04. Love for Sale – 19:02
05. Where Are You? – 26:39
06. Three O’Clock in the Morning – 32:01

Personnel:

Dexter Gordon – tenor saxophone
Sonny Clark – piano
Butch Warren – bass
Billy Higgins – drums

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Released: Third week of December 1962
Recorded: August 27, 1962
Studio: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Length: 37:44
Label: Blue Note
BLP 4112
Producer: Alfred Lion